David_Belcher

Thanks. I did have a "2nd era" styrene car with the diecast bogies/battery boxes years ago (as a kitchen car for a 1980s Hornby K-type brake and parlour, as Margate never did a kitchen), foolishly sold it. All of my current GF ones I think date from the 3rd all-plastic era. David

Superb!!

Finally done on both sides. Just the crests, branding and number panels (as Car 161) to do now. Glad I haven't got any more of these to line out!! David

Thanks for the clarification. Must have confused it with the James/3F example. David

It must be one of the few from that mid-70s era of Margate, along with the Ivatt 2MT, not to get a revamp/second chance. The J83 made a comeback on a better chassis, whilst the L1-derived Fowler 2P was the basis for Edward in the 'Thomas' range, I believe (just as James was a stretched-out 3F). I guess the vastly superior Schools must have rendered it utterly obsolete as Hornby's "Southern passenger loco for layouts too small for a Light Pacific" option. David

I had a few tins of the Gloy "authentic railway colours" series some years back - the tins were certainly suspiciously similar to Airfix ones! David

MTK on a Palitoy chassis is an interesting combination...I used to own one built out of a Mainline body/underframe on Jouef 40 bogies (with buffers from the Dapol breakdown crane kit) to get round the original 45's buffer beam faux pas. David

Currently having similar fun & games lining out a 4mm GF Pullman from a HMRS sheet! Still not finished either side of it in full...

So, finally took the plunge and started lining out the final car of the set, which came unfinished from the GF factory. The HMRS Pressfix transfers don't allow much room for error and are perhaps a bit too sticky for their own good resulting in umpteen attempts and frayed patience. I had old episodes of Friday Night Dinner running on All4 for background noise; it's a wonder I didn't end up using the late, great Paul Ritter's infamous catchphrase for my own means whilst using that transfer sheet... David

Shaping up well, should be a real talking point once complete & painted. Lenny's bodyshells are a class act. David

Same version I've got. Will check the lions but presumably the same, as the 2R 8F with the open-frame motor had a very short production run compared to the Ringfield loco. David

Could've sworn I'd posted a follow-up to this but anyway - "Princess Mary" was (I think) based at Darnall in the 50s and was lined black. Here's a pic of it at Rotherwood near Sheffield: https://www.semaphoresandsteam.com/p36854212/h420AC54A#h420ac54a "Zeebrugge" was also lined, I have a slight hunch that both might have been so treated for double-headed railtour use (RCTS "Pennine Pullman" springs to mind)... Edit: "Somme" was fully lined too. These 3 seem to be the exceptions? Second edit: Also "Prince of Wales" & "Jutland" in mixed traffic black. "Marne" was plain black, "Prince Albert" had a very odd style of white lining on the splashers only. David

Got the destination board holder positions wrong on the 12-wheeler (the 8-wheelers don't seem to have them looking at pics), had to redo them, and this shows up badly on camera - you *can* see the join, to misquote Eric Morecambe. David

Lining must have been selectively applied to English D11s; the Scottish ones with painted names rather than cast plates appear to have all carried lined BR black. Years ago I built a model of "Princess Mary" around a Rovex 2P footplate and chassis and that too was lined black in real life so painted accordingly. David

2 out of 3 cars basically done apart from maybe adding passengers to the interior, plus tail lamps on the outer ends. Roofs painted and everything satin varnished. Paper bellows gangway helps improve the gap between coaches. David

Was 48158 issued with the incorrect "right facing lion" version of the BR emblem? David

Allegedly these kinds of speeds were often reached on Stroud Valley auto-trains descending Sapperton bank! David

Recently bought some white PVC lining tape for the lower bodyside stripe on a green Class 25. Thought it might shrink/wrinkle after varnishing but all seems OK so far, cheaper than the HMRS "general purpose" lining too. David

I don't think I have a Hornby loco in the collection that wasn't a Margate product. My Fowler 2-6-4T was bought in 1996 or so. Since then most of my locos have been bashes (like the A2 and Caprotti 5MT), motorised Airfix/Dapol kits (4MT Mogul) or repainted/detailed 2nd hand models (Rovex Class 25 & DMU, HD Duchess, Jouef 40). David

The tender looks like an easy job. I have a GBL Peppercorn A2 and the tender chassis/wheels are just a one-piece diecasting so have had to replace that outright. David

Roof detail in place. Brake car and Iolanthe very close to completion now. Milliput needs tidying up then paint can go on followed by varnish then windows. Brake still needs the interior doing too, table lamps are in the post. (Please excuse the photobombing Caprotti 5MT...) David

Massive improvement on the original. Another option might be the cylinders/VG off Hornby's Fowler 2-6-4T? I fitted Fowler tank gear to the Ivatt Mogul and it looks better for it. David

Trying things for size...valve gear & motor not installed yet, tender now has something resembling a rolling chassis. David

Bogies in place on the 12-wheeler. Precision Labels name/number panels in place on 2 out of the 3 cars. Good decals these, considering you get 2 sheets covering 10 or so cars for under 4 quid. David

Where'd the Merco sheets come from? They still pop up on eBay sometimes. For fans of see-through windows, Alex Bowie did a good article on using litho coach sides as part of more detailed stock in his New Approach articles (MRC 1959-60...I have a tatty copy somewhere).